The boss of Goldman Sachs last night survived a shareholder revolt but faced furious calls for him to quit at a fiery investors' meeting.

They demanded that Lloyd Blankfein should fall on his sword because he had let the Wall Street giant ‘go to pieces’ over its handling of toxic sub-prime mortgages on its books.

He faced a bid to strip him of his powers and a no-confidence vote at the annual shareholders’ meeting, but won it after admitting the company needed to embark on a period of ‘rigorous self-examination’.

Goldman has been savaged for allegedly selling mortgages whilst betting against them and paying enormous bonuses to its executives in the middle of a global recession.

A civil lawsuit has been filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the bank, alleging that it defrauded investors of £650million.

It is also facing a federal criminal probe and yesterday reportedly lost one its major clients, insurers AIG, despite a long-standing relationship.

Goldman denies any wrongdoing.

Relations with shareholders have soured to such an extent that six have launched private lawsuits for mismanagement of the firm.

The annual shareholders’ meeting at Goldman’s New York global HQ - usually a sedate affair - was transformed into a cauldron of anger as a separate room was opened to accommodate the attendees.

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The first speaker, Eveyln Davis, said Goldman Sachs was ‘a once great company going to pieces. It is a shame’.

Turning to Mr Blankfein she added: ‘Step down’. He responded by saying he had no plans to.

Another shareholder, Claire Davis, said investors were worried the company was waiting for public opposition to die down so it could return to ‘bonuses as usual’.

A further woman investor added from the floor: ‘The enormous bonuses have contributed to a culture of greed that is bad for our company, greed that is bad for shareholders and for the broader public interest.’

In his opening remarks Mr Blankfein acknowledged the last few weeks had been ‘difficult and disappointing’ for the firm and had raised issues that went to the company’s core values.

‘There is a disconnect between how we view ourselves and how the broader public sees our role in the market,' he admitted.

In a contrite statement he acknowledged the strain on Goldman's name and announced the company was setting up a business standards committee to report on transparency.

He urged all employees to embark on a period of ‘rigorous self-examination’.

A group of nuns who held shares with the bank also put forward a motion to ask the company to evaluate if senior directors’ pay is ‘excessive’ and should be adjusted to ‘more reasonable and justifiable levels’.

Earlier this year Goldman was accused of living in 'Alice in Wonderland world' after claiming it had showed restraint in awarding its bankers a 57 per cent jump in their pay packages.

The average employee at the investment bank scooped £308,000 in salary, bonuses and other benefits in 2009, which is £112,000 more than they got the previous year.

But the 5,500 City staff will receive even more – an average of £650,000 for 2009 from a £3.6billion bonus and salary pot.

That includes ‘Fabulous Fab’ Fabrice Tourre, the financial whizzkid at the centre of the fraud probe who sent a series of emails in which he bragged about how he knew the market could collapse but carried on trading anyway.

Executives were subjected to an 11-hour grilling in front of a Senate Committee last month in which they were accused of offering clients a ‘shitty’ deal to clients.

Goldman’s shares have fallen around 20 per cent since its reputation as one of the world’s financial powerhouses was torn to shreds.